Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

nice red soundboard.

on a Chinese ebay purchased heating bender, Hi - do you have a link to the seller? I have been looking at these - you're happy with it? no I bought it on ebay from china, there are heaps of bending irons on there, I think mine was sold as a violin one but works for guitar sides too, as the iron is ...

Hi. What method did you use to bend the sides. I have tried a couple of sets with no luck on a Chinese ebay purchased heating bender, no water, just wood straight on it, bent really easy on the 2 guitars I built with it. didn't have any problem with silica like others say, but mine were quite thin ...

Guitar sounds good but you sound great. Nice pieces, worth saying what they were as I thought I recognised the first one, but not sure of the titles. Nice colour variation between bridge and neck positions and well done on building guitars and keeping your nails in good shape. I struggle with that....

after playing the guitar in for a few weeks, sound samples of 3 varying pieces: https://www.dropbox.com/s/hxtpomg74jdvz0t/VID_20200216_201111.mp4?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/gwhq69u2z5i34dr/VID_20200216_200851.mp4?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/qp9a4gve1zcu4v2/VID_20200216_200625.mp4?dl=0 I reall...

A couple thing about spruces: The trees supply about 60% of the worlds oxygen. most European spruces (Swiss, Norway,German, Carpathian, Frech, Italian etc) are all the same tree (Picea Abies). Bosnian/Serbian Spruce common in violin making is a different European spruce (Picea omorika) The American ...

all will work for classical, but you need to judge the wood on its tap tone and stiffness weight, not on its name or origin.

this is probably my favourite looking guitar I have seen in this forum.

That is so nice to look at. Leyland cypress has an interesting story, it's a hybrid, its parents are 2 cypresses commonly used for guitar making, Monterey Cypress (macrocarpa) and alaskan yellow cedar. The mother plant was yellow cedar, and the father was macro, by wind pollination, the property own...

PS, awesome uke build. I want my building to one day match yours in art form.

Lutz like every wood needs to be judged on its own merits. In a recent trip to USA, I purchased heaps of American spruces, I found all varieties can vary, some match European spruce, others are harder or heavier, others lighter and weaker, or sometimes lighter and stiffer!!. At the end of the day, i...

Queensland walnut is simple, and bends nice and easy, pretty decent taptone, but not as good as rosewood. Has a nice ribbon effect, grain changes colour when viewed from different angles.

Built in 2017 for a family member.

The Gidgee from curly timbers was sold as parlor size, so sides were a bit short, hence big endgraft with vic blackwood.

Got some great light weight sitka and western hemlock from these guys. Gr8 timber they have.

IMG_20190724_180519.jpg IMG_20190724_180422.jpg Yeh I haven't seen any as even colour as spruce for instance, but I don't care, I judge the timber on its tap tone and feel (stiffness, weight). These trees grow more ornamental and in different weather conditions and not in forests like alpine conife...

IMG_20190724_143237.jpg IMG_20190724_143303.jpg IMG_20190724_143251.jpg IMG_20190724_143415.jpg IMG_20190724_174823.jpg IMG_20190722_212833.jpg I get my building inspiration from older Romanillos and Rubio guitars of the 1970s, as that is the sound I prefer, and have had access to a few. Light weig...

Krzysztof Piotrowicz No. 11 Classical Guitar. Ive been getting great results from the Araucaria timbers (Bunya Pine is the most famous) and recommend these woods as a Spruce alternative, and a better instrument timber for classical guitars than the tasmanian soft conifers (Huon pine and King Billy p...

Looks good, don't worry about mistakes. Build for sound first and foremost.

Stuart that looks really neat. I keep facing this issue of the rosette. I would prefer to not use a commercial one but I also don't want to spend what would probably be weeks doing a traditional one. That one looks good. What are you using for the bridge and saddle? Other option is design a rosette...

Go to a different Australia Post post office that will accept it. I've sent guitar packages overseas oversize about 10 times, one of my local POs won't take them, but an LPO does. So maybe try an LPO. They are a bunch of annoying clowns are Australia Post, I never use them interstate, use smartsend....

Kpcart - the depth is 90mm and 95mm... What is usual for flamencos? It varies, usually shallower for cypress than Rosewood. I've Seen as low as 82mm to 87mm, giving great bounce between back and top, pumping out heaps of air through sound hole. Your photo just looked wider than I thought. It all de...

BTW, what is osmo?

Looks cool low sheen as is. Good use of traditional Torres Rossette, I've used that a couple times too but not the purfling to match, it looks good though. Sides look quite deep for a flamenco, what's the depth? Ebony binding? Tricky to bend without cracks hey.

Nice guitar, what about back bracing? I find that just as important to the sound as the top, they have to speak with each other. I'd probably use 4 braces instead of 3 on blackwood from the sets I've got, but haven't used that timber yet.